Tobacco subsidy policy back on the cards

Date: February 3 2013

Edward Malnick and Robert Mendick

LONDON: Members of the European Parliament have paved the way for hundreds of millions of pounds of subsidies to go to Europe's tobacco farmers – even though Brussels spends huge amounts on anti-smoking campaigns.

Tobacco growers may begin receiving extra cash as soon as next year after MEPs voted to amend the Common Agricultural Policy.

The vote would allow member states to decide which crops receive European Union farming subsidies. Countries such as Bulgaria, Poland and Greece may give huge sums to their tobacco growers as a result.

Critics have argued that the proposed changes to the subsidy system will herald a return to the EU's notorious "butter mountains" and "wine lakes". Now they may see a return to the subsidising of the multi-billion-pound cigarette industry as well.

Owen Paterson, Britain's Environment Secretary, said: "Subsidising Greek and Bulgarian tobacco growers is clearly wrong. Not only would it take us back to the dark days of skewing the basic laws of supply and demand, it would also spend British taxpayers' money on a product that is of absolutely no benefit to our society. I'm fighting hard to stop subsidies being linked to production like this again."

When the old system was scrapped in 2004, tobacco farmers in 12 EU countries received £260 million in subsidies. The scrapping of the subsidy prompted a decline in tobacco farming across the EU, which producers will now hope to reverse.

The European Commission is now running a £27 million campaign to encourage smokers to give up cigarettes. Officials say the initiative is helping hundreds of thousands of people to give up the habit.

On Saturday night critics said the plans to bring back subsidies for tobacco were "wasteful" and "bizarre".

The decision was described as "staggering" by anti-smoking campaigners.

The chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, Deborah Arnott, said: "This is an outrageous and retrograde step. Tobacco is responsible for more than 650,000 deaths in the EU every year, which is why subsidies were removed for tobacco.

"It makes no sense at all to revert back to subsidising the growth of such a deadly crop and it's staggering that the agriculture committee thinks otherwise. We urge MEPs and the commission to reject the committee's proposal outright."

A spokesman for the European Commission insisted the committee's proposal – allowing the subsidy for tobacco – was unlikely to happen. The spokesman said the amendment would need the approval of "an overwhelming number of member states" to become law.